São Paulo, Brazil, September 9, 2014
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced an equity investment of BRL 80 million (about US$ 36 million) in Austral Participações, to support the expansion of the insurance market for infrastructure and agricultural sectors, among others, and promote innovation of insurance products.
IFC will acquire a minority participation in Austral Participações, the holding company of Austral Seguradora and Austral Resseguradora (Austral Re), controlled by Vinci Partners. IFC’s investment will help Austral to consolidate its operations and accelerate the already significant growth it has been experiencing since its establishment in Brazil four years ago.
Increasing insurance coverage and the availability of reinsurance capacity are key enablers of sustainable economic development and private sector growth. Insurance plays an important role mitigating risks in emerging markets, helping to cushion individuals and businesses against the adverse effects of natural disasters, fires, droughts and other unforeseen events.
“IFC’s investment demonstrates the positive medium- and long-term outlook for the insurance and reinsurance sectors in Brazil”, says Bruno Freire, Austral Re’s executive director. Carlos Frederico Ferreira, Austral Seguradora’s executive director, stresses that having IFC as one of the company’s shareholder helps to boost Austral’s expansion plan and its efforts to increase its market share.
According to Alessandro Horta, founding partner of Vinci Partners, “Vinci is proud to bring in a new strategic partner such as IFC, who deeply understands the insurance and reinsurance sectors, to help boost Austral’s expansion capacity in Brazil and internationally.”
“The investment in Austral is aligned with IFC’s strategy in Brazil to improve the country’s competitiveness, supporting infrastructure development, sustainable growth of the agribusiness sector, job creation and access to financial services for underserved sectors”, says Hector Gomez Ang, IFC Brazil’s Country Manager.
Present in the country since 1956, IFC has been investing about US$ 2 billion per year in Brazil, country with the world’s largest IFC’s investment program, to support addressing the country’s most pressing development challenges, including those of the urbanization, social inclusion, competitiveness and productivity, and management of natural resources.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. Working with private enterprises in about 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. In FY14, we provided more than $22 billion in financing to improve lives in developing countries and tackle the most urgent challenges of development. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
About Austral
Austral is comprised of Austral Seguradora and Austral Re. Austral Seguradora operates in the large/big risks market focused on Surety Bonds,and risks related to Engineering and Oil explotations. Austral Re, the reinsurance company, operates in all business lines with focus on automotica contracts
